Musings about roleplaying games and settings by someone who's been at this a long time. Updates M-W-F (I hope.)

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Damn Control!

GCS Tesla Outer Hull
Exec: <<<Pfffffst How's it coming?>>>

Lieutenant: Meh.

Exec: <<< Could you explain that in layman's terms please? >>>

Lt.: It's proceeding but slowly Ma'am.

Exec: <<< Thank you. >>>

Lt.: Is the Captain still angry?

Exec: <<< Technical Officer, the next time you give the Captain an estimate on repairs I suggest you add 100% or so to it. And yes! He said (I quote), "He LIED to me. Tell that son of a mother if he doesn't fix this before he sets a foot on deck he'll be a peg legged technical officer!" >>>

Lt.: So he's running hot but within safe operating limits?

Exec: <<< ... fix the damned greeble. Is the suit working? >>>

Lt: If it wasn't I'd be dead?

Exec: <<< Aside from keeping you alive!! >>>

Lt.: Mr. Tivk did a fine job. I can pull my arm in when I have to scratch my ... nose! A little difficult to get around in though.

Exec: <<< That's why they call them hard suits! You could have gone with a skin weave. >>>

Lt.: Negative! I'm climbing over a hull that got riddled with beams and bombs. All kinds if pointy stuff here we have to clean up next. I'm saving that for the Chief and the gyrenes. They need to log in their monthly EVA hours anyway. Could you maybe give me a little gravity on the hull though?

Exec: <<< Sorry. Number two shifter is offline. We're at a quarter gee interior and that's just to facilitate repairs to the hangar. >>>

Lt.: We should carry a couple of crates of extra gravity for emergencies like this ...

<Slice!>

Lt.: Oh shi ....

<Fwooosh!>

First of all if you have the Traveller uber CD(s) from Far futures Enterprises JTAS #9 has a ton of information on different types of Vacc suits. Second of all since I realized there are a number of people reading my blog who know much more of this sort of stuff than I do I will keep my rules short and sweet to avoid making mistakes.

Damage Control is pretty complicated on surface ships and the sea is a relatively benign environment compared to hard vacuum. You might be able to tread water but you can't breathe vacuum. On sounding general quarters crew make their way to their stations making sure all pressurized doors are sealed. Ships running passengers will make sure they are either suited up or in rescue balls.

On sustaining damage crew will assess and either seal the compartment n case of a hull breach or other severe damage or attempt to repair any necessary systems. Sealed compartments are monitored and repairs are carried out in order of priority (get that turret back online Free Trader Beowulf!) Ideally the people doing this are wearing vacc suits. On a ship with a very small crew at least one person is waiting to suit up.

A couple of the suits I mention are skin suits, soft suits and hard suits. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Basically the thinner the suit the less it hampers you, at first. The thinner suits require you to work more against the air pressure inside or in the case of the skin suit are very confining like a compression garment. The thinner suits make you tire faster and carry a higher penalty for extended use.

TL/Suit

Armor Equivalent

Endurance Loss -1 per

Dex Minus

Tl 7 Soft Suit

Mesh

20 minutes (1 turn)

-2

TL 8 Soft Suit

Cloth

30 minutes (2 turns)

-1

TL 8 Hard Suit

Cloth -1

40 minutes (3 turns)

-2

TL 9 Skin Suit

Jack

20 minutes (1 turn)

0

TL 13 Enhanced

Cloth/Reflec

20 minutes (1 turn)

-1

Unskilled use doubles the End loss for all suits except the TL 13 version. The TL 13 suit halves Endurance loss for users with Vacc 1 or higher. Turns are for space combat.

Lost Endurance is treated like making combat blows. When the user expends all Endurance they perform any additional tasks with a -2 DM.

You can reduce the Dexterity loss by one by decompression and setting your suit at less than one atmosphere. This takes one turn.

TL 7 Soft Suit: The only suit available at TL 7. Lower TL suits are possible and hey it's your character. Weight and cost is per the TL 8 version.

TL 8 Hard Suit: The hard suit has its life support system back pack mounted on a hinge to swing open and allow the wearer to step into the suit. Many suits are mounted on specialized mini airlocks on the outside of habitats. The wearer climbs through the airlock into the suit, closed the suit up disengages from the airlock and walks away. The suits never enter inhabited area and reduces the risk of contamination. They are double the cost of a regular suit.

TL 9 Skin Suit: Using a variety of elastic polymers, electro-constricting wiring and pressure bladders the skin suit is almost like another skin. What it lacks in protection it makes up for in mobility. However, compressing the human body also increases fatigue and discomfort over time. It weighs 6 kilos and costs Cr. 25,000. At TL 9 it must be custom fitted. Servos alllow a one size fits all version at TL 12.

TL 13 Enhanced: The Tl 13 suit is a mixture of hard and soft suit technologies with battle dress style augmentation to allow the wearer to move comfortably. It has an integral layer of reflec to protect from heat effects and EM radiation from ship sensors. The helmet contains a water and food syrup dispenser as well as an autoinjector for Combat, Slow and Medical Fast drug, It is Cr. 50,000.

Exec: <<<Do you have him, Chief!>>>

Chief: <<<Yes Ma'am. He'll be fine. I got some tape on that finger. He got a patch on it and the blood from his finger did a fair job stopping the air from leaking out..>>>

Lt.: I'm okay. Hey let me get my wrench!

Chief: <<<Shipmate, I got the wrench. Now go where I'm pushing you. We even got you a little gravity.>>>

Lt.: You had a few boxes left?

Exec: <<<What'd he say? Boxes ... ?>>>

Chief: <<<He lost some pressure when he sliced his finger. He's a little shocky.>>>

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